Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams - A review of Dream Theater's Lost Not Forgotten Archives: Master of Puppets - Live in Barcelona, 2002

Back in the early years of the millennium, progressive metal veterans Dream Theater honoured several of their favourite bands by playing their records from start to finish. These renditions include Deep Purple's Made in Japan, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast. Lost Not Forgotten Archives: Master of Puppets - Live in Barcelona, 2002 obviously features the band's homage to the legendary thrash metal quartet that might be the most commercially successful genre band ever.

It might be debatable whether one prefers Metallica's gritty originals or Dream Theater's more playful renditions of the material. Nobody can however deny that the eight songs played here are executed with technically stunning musicianship. The drum play by Mike Portnoy is dynamic, playful and tight all at once and easily outperforms Lars Ulrich's efficient but simpler style. John Myung is able to replicate Cliff Burton's style easily which is remarkable on its own but sadly fails to add his own note to the original material. John Petrucci on the other side has to vary constantly between gritty riffs and melodic soloing and accomplishes these transitions with remarkable ease that underlines the fact that he is one of the greatest guitarists in the world. James LaBrie's vocals sound surprisingly gritty as he is clearly enjoying himself while performing this unusual material. His vocals might not be as unique as James Hetfield's original performances but the vocals are nevertheless the most positive surprise on this release. Perhaps he should focus on thrash metal on his next solo album. Jordan Rudess has the difficult job to add keyboard sounds to support John Petrucci on guitar while the original material didn't have any of that. While the keyboards add new touches here and there, they are simply stated rarely employed and overall rather unnecessary. The production is raw which benefits the grittier sounds but it's slightly irritating during announcements and crowd recordings.

At the end of the day, some elements here sound better than in the original versions such as the dynamic drum play and outstanding guitar work. The vocals are on the same high level which comes as this release's most positive surprise. The bass guitar play and the keyboards could however sound slightly more adventurous. The final result is certainly worth the attention of both Dream Theater and Metallica fans. I'm a fan of both bands and didn't expect to like this bootleg as much as I do. It has a lot of replay value and it's very interesting to compare it to the original material. Check this release out on Spotify and buy the record if you end up liking it as much as I do.

Final rating: 80%